Midvalley on the move with affordable housing as El Jebel Mobile Home Park addition starts

Robert Hubbell, president of Crawford Properties LLC, stands in front of the first modular home delivered last weekend. The company is added 46 affordable housing units to the El Jebel Mobile Home Park.

One of the first substantial additions to the affordable-housing stock is underway in the middle Roaring Fork Valley — and desperate residents are well aware of the rare opportunity.

Crawford Properties LLC is adding 46 affordable-housing units to the existing El Jebel Mobile Home Park. Once the project is completed next spring, there will be eight two-bedroom units and 38 three-bedroom residences, according to Robert Hubbell, president of the company.

The first two modular homes arrived over the weekend. He said it was an emotional moment that made him realize the project was really happening. Three other modular homes are scheduled for delivery the first week of December.

If the weather cooperates, the first five units will be ready for renters to move in by Jan. 1, Hubbell said.

Six of the residences — three each of the two- and three-bedrooms — will be deed-restricted as affordable housing and rented in cooperation with the Eagle County Housing Authority.

The remaining 40 units will be rented at 30 percent of the Area Median Income, making them attainable for the working class. The Crawford family has provided affordable, free-market housing in El Jebel for more than 50 years. Hubbell is the grandson of the late Floyd Crawford, who developed the El Jebel Mobile Home Park. There are 298 residences there prior to the expansion.

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Hubbell said more than 200 individuals and families have applied to rent the new units. It's a mixture of people who live in towns such as Rifle and Silt but work in the Roaring Fork Valley and want to move closer to their jobs, and current valley residents who want to improve their living situation.

"That is spot on 50-50," Hubbell said.

Crawford Properties is interviewing applicants to find the best additions to the community, he said.

The Basalt and Rural Fire District has the right of first refusal to lease three of the first five residences. One also will be a deed-restricted unit.

The El Jebel Mobile Home Park expansion is one of seven projects either under construction or under review in the midvalley. All seven projects have an affordable-housing component. The following is a summary of all the projects.

The Tree Farm

Location: North side of Highway 82, across from Whole Foods.

Owner: Ace Lane and his firm, Woody Ventures LLC.

Specs: Proposal for 340 residences, 74,007 square feet of general commercial space and a 60,000-square-foot hotel.

Features of note: Project includes 43 deed-restricted affordable-housing units and free-market apartments that the development teams described as attainable housing.

Status: Woody Ventures made a major revision to try to answer concerns of the Roaring Fork Valley Regional Planning Commission and the public. The project is in the second of three rounds of approval from Eagle County. The county commissioners will hold a hearing early in 2017.

The Fields

Location: South of the intersection of Highway 82 and Valley Road, across from the Blue Lake subdivision entrance.

Features of note: The apartments will be rented under Basalt affordable-housing guidelines. The Roaring Fork School District, Basalt Fire Department and town of Basalt have committed to purchase the condos.

Status: Under construction. Occupancy expected in early 2017.

Roaring Fork Apartments

Location: Next to Stubbies bar in Basalt.

Owner: RealAmerica LLC.

Specs: 56-unit affordable apartment complex.

Feature of note: The rents for the 44 one-bedroom and 11 two-bedroom units will be targeted for low-income households. RealAmerica has committed to rent six units at 30 percent of area median income, 11 at 50 percent of median income and 27 at 60 percent. The remaining 12 will be rented according to local affordable-housing guidelines.

Location: 18 acres north of Basalt High School and east of Southside Drive.

Owner: Briston Peterson and MSP1 LLC.

Specs: 60 single-family homes and 96 multi-family residences. Developer will build two parks and provide the shell for a day care space to be rented out.

Feature of note: 20 multi-family units and 10 single-family units will be sold under affordable housing guidelines.

Status: The Basalt Town Council reinstated earlier approvals of the single-family homes and granted first-round approval to the multi-family units.

Basalt High School area housing

Location: South of the high school.

Owner: Roaring Fork School District owns the property and Habitat for Humanity Roaring Fork will construct the units.

Specs: Proposal for 27 units in three triplexes and nine duplexes.

Feature of note: More than half of the units would go to teachers and the rest to other members of the work force. Mortgage principal and interest, insurance and taxes would come to less than 28 percent of the buyers' gross monthly income. That's a Habitat goal on its projects.

Feature of note: Six of the units will be deed-restricted and the Crawfords will work with Eagle County Affordable Housing to select tenants. The remaining 40 units will be rented at 30 percent of the Area Median Income.

Status: Crawford Properties received the first two modular homes last weekend and expects deliver of three more in early December. The first five homes could be habitable by Jan. 1, weather dependent.